Carnival Triumph

Sara Quinn

Age: 28

Occupation:Teacher

Number of Cruises: 4

Cruise Line: Carnival

Ship: Carnival Triumph

Sailing Date: July 30th, 2005

Itinerary: 7 Day Eastern Canadian Cruise

My husband and I went on the Carnival Triumph cruise to Saint John, New
Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia. This was our third cruise together and our
second Carnival cruise together (I went on the Ecstasy as a teen). We had a
lovely time on the ship.

There is nothing like watching New York City from a ship sailing off into the
sunset. We had a beautiful view of the skyline and Lady Liberty. This was rather
crowded, yet well worth it!

We enjoyed dinner, especially because our waitress was wonderful. Kate spent
time talking with us and letting us know about her life, while suggesting great
meals and making sure the service was good. My husband loves milk with his
dessert. He only had to ask one time, every other night the milk came out with
the dessert menus. That is a nice touch.

For lunch, we enjoyed the New York Deli with yummy corned beef on rye and the
Coney Island grille burgers. Breakfast was the best in the dining room.

While there were 3000 people on the boat, the only day it seemed crowed was when
we arrived on the ship. We did the fun pass sign-up on Carnival's web site
before arrival, which saved us at least an hour's worth of waiting in line. I
highly recommend signing up onine before arriving at the port.

Cruise ships can be a bit confusing for a first time cruiser, so if it's your
first time, I recommend looking at the layout before arrival. This cruise was my
in-laws first and they were very confused with getting around and figuring out
what was going on during the day. The Carnival Capers newspaper explains
everything, so make sure you read it and make the most of every interesting
activity. Remember, this is your vacation, make it what you want it to be!

I convinced my husband to take some dance lessons with me, and we truly enjoyed
ourselves while we stumbled to learn the cha-cha and other dances. The dancers
were very friendly and talented teachers.

The 2 main shows on the ship were spectacular. I highly recommend getting to the
Rome Lounge early so that you can get a good seat. The comedians were not very
funny at all. We left the adult comedy show, it was so bad!

Carnival makes their money in 2 main ways, through people gambling and through
people drinking. The casino's seemed a bit rigged to me, especially the tables.
I watched for a while, and was surprised at how well the dealer did every hand.
Also, Bingo seemed to be a rigged as well. No matter how late or early bingo
started, they were always finished at the exact moment that the next activity
was starting. I say, save your bingo money so you can go on another cruise,
instead of making the donation to Carnival.

The duty-free shops had a lot of cool items, especially nice jewelry. Everyday,
the shops had drawings for free stuff. My husband kept entering my name into
different drawings, and on the last day I won blue topaz stones to make into
earrings. Might as well enter the drawing, you never know...

The photographers took amazing and highly professional pictures. Every night, we
had as many pictures taken as we could, then on the last day, we gathered all
the pictures together and chose the best ones. We have done this on every
cruise, which I believe is a good system.

Our first stop in Canada was in Saint John, New Brunswick. It rained for most of
the day, which made it difficult to do anything. We looked around at the
reversing falls, and it was okay, not as exciting as we thought it would be, but
maybe that was because of the rain. Some friends took the kayaking shore
excursion and really enjoyed themselves.

The next day, we went to Halifax, Nova Scotia. We really enjoyed our time in
Halifax. My husband and I do not normally do the cruise line shore excursions
because they seem to be over priced and over crowded. We hopped in a taxi with
our in-laws and had a wonderful tour of Halifax, including Peggy's Cove, the
sight on the Swissair plane crash, the cemetery where people from the Titanic
are buried, and the sight of the 2nd biggest explosion in the world. We had as
much time as we wanted at every place because the taxi driver was wonderful. We
spent $100 total for the trip, which was a big discount to Carnival's $59 per
person tour bus. I highly recommend Peggy's Cove. It was a beautiful place to
take pictures, rock climb, and enjoy the view. Definitely allow at least three
hours if you are planning to go to Peggy's Cove because it's a bit far away. but
well worth the drive.

My husband got ill before the trip, and was still ill while we were on the ship,
so we used the infirmary. The doctor and nurse were very helpful and
considerate.

The temperature in Canada is a lot cooler than in NJ where I live. I was happy
that I checked www.weather.com before we left. This helped me with packing the
right temperature of clothing. In Canada, I wore pants and long sleeve shirt in
August. On the boat, we did not do many things outdoors like on a Caribbean
cruise. It's not your normal cruise weather, but it was nice for us since it has
been a hot and humid summer!

All in all we had a wonderful vacation. I recommend the Carnival Triumph to
young active people and families. We did not use any of the Camp Carnival
services, but they seemed to be run well (I am a teacher and highly judgmental
about such things). The teen dances looked like a lot of fun. In closing, this
cruise is good for people who do not mind cold weather, enjoy the boat more than
the ports, and are looking for an economical way to cruise. Enjoy!